Home for all technology and products -- news, features and interviews of top-notch enterprises in India. This portal covers all the major happenings across verticals including telecom, mobility, gadgets & gizmo, retail, services, BFSI, energy, manufacturing, SMBs, business technologies, GreenIT, outsourcing...

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Japanese Major SoftBank Likely to Invest $1.5 Billion in Paytm

If
the discussions materialise, the deal could value the One97 Communications
Ltd-owned company at $7-9 billion, thereport says, citing three people
aware of the matter.

As
per the deal, SoftBankwill
not only buy some shares from existing Paytm investor SAIF Partners and founder
Vijay Shekhar Sharma but would also be investing money in the company. The
payments company may also buy out Snapdeal-owned mobile wallet firm FreeCharge
in a “fire sale, though the fundraising is not contingent upon the proposed
buyout,” the report added.

With
SoftBank on board, Paytmcould
also be seeking a way to balance out the control of China’s Alibaba Group
Holding Ltd, currently its largest shareholder. Interestingly, the Japanese
company was an early backer of Alibaba and its initial investment of $20
million turned into a stake worth more than $60 billion when Alibaba listed its
shares in 2014.

SoftBank has been re-strategizing
its plans in India after its investments in the county failed to yield
encouraging returns. With a total investment of over $3 billion in the country,

SoftBank is now pushing mergers and acquisitions to consolidate its portfolio.
The Japanese major has reportedly been spearheading the talks for a possible
merger of Snapdeal with rival Flipkart.